Automatic Apache Alias definitions

Question

I have a folder full of sites: /var/www

I have a domain: example.com

I want to write a rule in my httpd.conf that will setup an alias for each site in /var/www.

For example: /var/www/hello/public can be accessed via example.com/hello.

At the moment I am just writing my alias definitions manually, for each site: Alias /hello "/var/www/hello/public/"

Because the routing is to the `public` folder, not the `root` - `/hello` = `/var/www/hello/public`. — Oliver Joseph Ash, Mar 06 '12 at 22:43
Ahh yeah, I missed that. In that case, Gabor's answer is the way to go. — Shane Madden, Mar 06 '12 at 22:44

Insyte · Answer 1 · 2012-03-06T22:58:14.153

Easiest solution would be to use mod_vhost_alias instead. It does not do exactly what you described, but it's very close.

Enable vhost_alias_module using whatever technique your distribution prefers (a2enmod vhost_alias on Debian-based distros).

Add these directives to httpd.conf:

UseCanonicalName Off
VirtualDocumentRoot /var/www/%1/public

Create a wildcard DNS entry for example.com so any subdomain of example.com is directed to your server.

Now accessing "hello.example.com" will load the site located in /var/www/hello/public.

Alternatively, as mentioned by Gabor, you can use mod_rewrite. The solution I'm going to outline assumes that you have no other content under example.com.

Enable mod_rewrite using whatever mechanism your distro prefers (a2enmod rewrite on Debian-based distros).

Add these directives to the VirtualHost for example.com:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^([^/]+)(.*) /var/www/$1/public/$2

This will rewrite a request for "example.com/hello/steve" to /var/www/hello/public/steve.

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 20 '12 at 18:27

0

Create a vhost for your domain and webroot. Write a rewrite rule instead of aliasing.

edited Jul 20 '12 at 18:27

Lucas Kauffman

16,880
9
58
93

answered Mar 06 '12 at 22:28

Gabor Vincze

554
1
4
11

1

What would the `RewriteRule` look like in this case? – Oliver Joseph Ash Mar 06 '12 at 22:44
Well, a rewrite map can work here, but it's likely not quite as performant as the other solution. – 0xC0000022L Mar 06 '12 at 22:50
It would be useful to at least outline what the rewrite rule would look like. – pjmorse Mar 07 '12 at 14:03
I've outlined one below. – Insyte Mar 07 '12 at 22:11

Automatic Apache Alias definitions

2 Answers2